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Tips for an XD GoD based rpg?

I plan to make an rpg based on the shadow pokemon from Gale of Darkness, but I know it is never easy to make a text based rpg that features actual pokemon battles, so I need some help on how I could improve the idea? Like, should everyone be pokemon? If so, should everyone have a goal beat the shadow version of themselves, or should some event trigger the corruption? Or, should the players use weapons of warfare, or leave it to fists and pokemon?

" iPods have the worlds worst spell checker. I once tried to type heyyyyyy and it came out Gertrude. Curse you Steve Jobs. Curse you." -Me

"It usually starts with a Holla! And ends with a cream-sickle." "And if theres time in between, 'ThundaCatz! Hawww!" -Shawn and Gus

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Everything in my sig is a quote. Except this. This is a note that is telling you a stupid and obvious fact.

I've run a Coliseum game (twice), so I guess I should say something. It depends on what you want out of it. I wanted the focus to be on character development, especially with dealing with the Shadows and their purification. Because of that, I was fairly loose handed with how battles went. But then I had trouble with there were a few players who didn't seem interested in the characterization part and just wanted to battle. If you want a focus on battle, then make sure the system, rules, and methods for that is clearly stated right in the sign-up thread. And you'd probably get players who weren't interested in battle... happens to most games, I think.

Having to fight a shadow version of themselves is a much different idea than the Shadow virus/curse present in the game. If you use an all-Pokemon version, then having a mysterious event inflict it and trying to find out what that is and how to stop it would be an interesting plot. And if you are having people play Pokemon, then you need to determine what Shadow Pokemon experience as a Shadow. It needs to be defined enough that people don't make characters that are out of place, but loose enough that there can be some individual differences.

This goes especially if you let people play Shadow Pokemon too. If you do that, then fighting a Shadow version of themselves in their own mind (or in the Dream World) would be an interesting possibility. And what about allowing other players to enter that mindscape to help out? That could be interesting (though the GM and the player who 'owns' that mindscape would have final say in anything that goes on there).

Weapons and Pokemon together need to be thought out carefully. They have a tendency to overshadow one or the other. Like why use a club if a Pokemon can use it better... or why use a Pokemon when a gun is more directly lethal. You'd also have to explain why weapons and Pokemon are in the same world (some things like clubs and knives can be excused).

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Yeah, I do see what you mean. I think that not having weapons would be best. I do actually think I have a story. Basically, you are a trainer aboard the S.S. Libra when it is attacked by Shadow Lugia. You dont get off the ship in time and are stuck on board when it is picked up. You hide until the ship is dropped. When you think you are safe, you come out. You sneak around, but you are then noticed by Shadow Lugia. He hits you with a Shadow Blast, and your molecules are split into two. When you awake, you find your self in something similar to Kingdom Heart's "Dive to the Heart". You are a pokemon, and next to you sits a pokemon just like you, but its colors are like Shadow Lugia's, and it's appearence is much more evil, again like Shadow Lugia. It attacks you, and you fight back, until you fall of the pillar into darkness. You fall for what seems like forever until you are in a jungle quite suddenly. There your adventure starts, and the RPing begins. Sound good to you, or anything I should change?

" iPods have the worlds worst spell checker. I once tried to type heyyyyyy and it came out Gertrude. Curse you Steve Jobs. Curse you." -Me

"It usually starts with a Holla! And ends with a cream-sickle." "And if theres time in between, 'ThundaCatz! Hawww!" -Shawn and Gus

"Don't judge me. You know you do it YOU KNOW YOU DO IT!" -Tim Hawkins

99.9% of everyone at SPPF have a sig. If you're part of the .1% that doesn't, put this in your- Ah, shoot!
^From Universal Chaser. Great sig man!^

Everything in my sig is a quote. Except this. This is a note that is telling you a stupid and obvious fact.

It's rather complex. You can streamline it by simply saying that the initial Shadow Blast causes some passengers to get thrown into the Shadow battle, and then into a Mystery Dungeon type world (so you're mixing two spin-offs in one game!)

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!